One of the realizations of operationalizing an algorithm / system is that designers / programmers rarely think of every way in which human beings do unexpected things with their system. And usually the enthusiasm is never as great to mop up the customer experience problems after the 99% is solved for.
I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi
101–110 of 464 posts
Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a general issue with google. If their system decides it doesn't like you, then you're out of luck. You'll never get them to fix it.
It turns out it didn't take computer AI "taking over" to just arbitrarily decide you're out, or wrong, or whatever with no recourse. A company of humans have decided that's ok.
No single human says this is ok. There is no human consensus this is ok. This is a form of non-human intelligence taking over.
Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you use large amounts of mobile data, their plans very quickly become obnoxious (throttled after 15GB) and expensive ($80 plus taxes/fees). Compare that with T-Mobile, who offers $70 a month (including taxes/fees) with throttling at 50GB and 20GB of hotspot data for $15/mo more, or even AT&T or Verizon, and it's more expensive for less service.
I'm not sure this is the use case for the majority of Fi users, if they are using a lot of data its going to be cheaper from one of the source carriers than Fi, there is no way Fi could be cheaper than T-Mobile or Sprint who are the Google Fi carriers for heavy data use like this. Most of the time my phone is on wifi and only using data during travel why pay for anything Im not expecting to use. If I'm off wifi enoug…
> there is no way Fi could be cheaper than T-Mobile or Sprint who are the Google Fi carriers
Look at it as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination. A carrier can charge a lot to their locked-in customers, and sell spare capacity at lower markups to people who have competing alternatives, as long as all not everyone abandons them and moves to Fi.
Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi
#104Anecdotal evidence, but service was getting worse and worse with google fi (in San Francisco) over the past few months and I just switched to another carrier a few weeks ago. Calls were regularly dropping and data would cut in and out.
(I scrolled through the comments and didn't see this anywhere else. I think it's worth mentioning. I will miss the international coverage and included hotspot... And as someone who is on WiFi most of the time, it was cheaper than any of the major carriers.)
Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi
#105I'm going through something similar with Lyft. I got a new pixel phone, had to re-setup my account in an airport added my cards, and was unable to hail a ride due to some "oops, there was a problem, try again" error with both the cards I entered. That was 9 months ago. To this day, I've been unable to use Lyft, and I can't get anybody to really look at the issue. I'm not sure why they don't want to take my money, but…
Please look up information about Uber's business practices and don't use them. A few minor technical problems are nothing compared to how bad Uber is. Disclaimer: Austin resident who is still mad at both of them for all the massive lies they published all over the city and the huge amount of our money and time they wasted with their stupid campaign to not have to fingerprint drivers.
As a consumer, I don't really care.
I long ago realized that most big companies I do business with have probably done something sketchy in terms of lobbying / dodging regulation, whether they've gotten caught yet or not, and decided to stop losing sleep over it and just use the services that work best for me.
Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi
#106Google Fi sucks, it's way too expensive. The last several years have seen an explosion of MVNOs, mobile virtual network operators. I use Mint Sim and get 3gb LTE/month with unlimited talk and text, and unlimited throttled internet after the 3gb, for $15/month.
Isn't it 2GB?
And on their website I'm charged $45 for some reason.
Also the plan says 3-month plan (regular price $23), so your price seems to be promotional.
Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi
#107Despite everything else said, I’ve gotta say that there’s no better feeling than touching down in a new place, turning on your phone, and having it just work . No stupid voip apps. No managing prepaid balances. No switching sims. Just direct dial and go. Fi service is incredible for the mobile roaming alone and I’m not quite sure why nobody else can do it. I love it so much and it’s my favorite product. It makes a me…
Is that not normal with other carriers? I've made multiple trips abroad and aside from an occasional delay of a few minutes, my phone just works wherever I go.
For many carriers the roaming costs are so outrageous you may as well pretend that it is not an option.
Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi
#108Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a general issue with google. If their system decides it doesn't like you, then you're out of luck. You'll never get them to fix it.
I recently had nearly the same exact problem with Microsoft. Security department is a black box—zero communication. A friend working for Microsoft even escalated my case internally at the time, but nobody could do or see anything. My account was eventually unfrozen without so much as an email to notify me, never mind an explanation. The point is, this issue isn’t limited to Google.
The difference is Microsoft doesn't provide you with your phone service do they?
I think this highlights the dangers of bundling all of your services through a single point of failure. Something Google probably is the most known for.
Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi
#109The lede here is somewhat burried: "From what I’ve since learned, if a card in your Google Pay is stolen, or someone uses your Payments account fraudulently, or anything happens that leads to a security flag being raised, it can lead to your Google Payments account being frozen. ... If you can’t use Google Payments, you can’t pay for Google Fi This, fundamentally, is why I can’t suggest anyone use Project Fi anymore.…
One thing I can suggest; if you're deep into google products, you should be paying the $5/month for a G-Suite account with your own domain. You get access to better business-class support. Fi is now also supported on G-Suite accounts. It's a no-brainer. It sucks that their personal account support is so bad, but there is a solution.
I would agree with this, if you're using Google's personal free products for running a business. Get locked and you're in real trouble.
But Fi is a service that the customer is paying for, they should not be subject to automatic lockouts without any way to get it resolved other than to "start fresh."
Re: I Can No Longer Recommend Google Fi
#110I'm going through something similar with Lyft. I got a new pixel phone, had to re-setup my account in an airport added my cards, and was unable to hail a ride due to some "oops, there was a problem, try again" error with both the cards I entered. That was 9 months ago. To this day, I've been unable to use Lyft, and I can't get anybody to really look at the issue. I'm not sure why they don't want to take my money, but…
Please tell me more if you can. gmail account matching this one or https://rachelbythebay.com/contact/ - thanks.
Do you work for Lyft or something?